


never quite the same

by sora_grey



Series: tiny fandom anthology [4]
Category: All the Bright Places - Jennifer Niven
Genre: Drowning, Emotional Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Newspaper Article, Other, POV Outsider, Rare Fandoms, Referenced Car Accident, Tears will be shed, The Author Regrets Everything, Tragic Romance, What Have I Done, Why Did I Write This?, i wrote some really sad shit here, no seriously grab a fuckton of tissues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 01:22:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17132357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sora_grey/pseuds/sora_grey
Summary: In the span of a year, theBartlett Herald, a local Indiana newspaper, reports on the loss of two young lives.(Alternately, the one where Violet Markey can’t catch a goddamn break.)





	1. Eleanor Markey

**Author's Note:**

> Violet mentioned that one year had passed since Eleanor died. Furthermore, she also clearly stated that April 5th was Easter Sunday, which actually did happen in 2015.
> 
> Based on the timeline provided, that meant that the car accident occurred the previous year, in 2014.

* * *

**_Thursday, April 10, 2014_**

Eleanor Markey, 18, passed away on April 5 due to injuries sustained in a car accident. She was a beloved daughter, granddaughter, sister, and friend to those who knew her and will be sorely missed.

Eleanor was born on January 5, 1996 in Marshall, California to James Markey, a historian, and Sheryl Markey (née Northfield), an author and linguistics professor at Purdue University. She spent her childhood and early adolescence in Inverness, California, before moving to Bartlett the summer before her sophomore year.

She attended Bartlett High School, where she was a straight-A student, as well as a member of student congress, yearbook, and the National Honors Society. In her spare time, Eleanor liked to make short films and ran _eleanorandviolet.com_ , an online magazine she created with her younger sister Violet.

Eleanor is survived by her parents, sister, maternal grandparents Harold and Barbara Northfield of Half Moon Bay, California, and paternal grandparents Oscar and Louise Markey of Abbot, Maine.

Her spirit will also live on in her close friends Gemma Sterling of Studio City, California; Kelsey Winslow of Inverness, California; Laila Collman, Ashley Dunston, and her boyfriend Elijah "Eli" Cross.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Golden Acres Cemetery and services will be scheduled for April 12 at 10:00 AM at Saint Francis Cathedral, with a viewing to follow between 11:00 AM-12:00 PM. A memorial luncheon will take place at 1:00 PM at the Markey residence.

Friends and family wishing to honor Eleanor are encouraged to make a donation to the _Reading is Fundamental_ and _Covenant House_ charities in lieu of flowers.

* * *

_Place a notice at bartlettherald.com/obituary_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of Eleanor’s extended family members, her friend Kelsey Winslow, and her life before and after the Markeys moved to Bartlett are products of the author’s imagination.


	2. Theodore Finch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Violet also mentioned a reporter named Jerri Sparks, so I decided to use her name for the byline.
> 
> Furthermore, I gave actual names to the background characters that Violet had seen and talked to, like the people who owned the home near the Blue Hole and the sheriff. Kaylin Jones, however, belongs to me.

* * *

_Monday, April 27, 2015_

**Young man takes own life, stuns girlfriend and community**

by _**Jerri Sparks**_  
jerri.sparks@bartlettherald.com

 _ **Prairieton**_ —One year after surviving a car accident that killed older sister Eleanor, 17-year-old Violet Markey experienced another tragic loss as Vigo County firefighters recovered the body of Markey's boyfriend Theodore "Theo" Finch, Jr., 18, from a lake located behind the home of Gordon and Margaret Seegan late Sunday morning.

Finch was discovered at 11:40 AM, though based on diatom levels, he had already spent several hours in the water before his body was brought up to the surface. Medical examiner Kaylin Jones estimated time of death between 3:00-4:00 AM and determined the cause of death as a suicide.

Markey was initially asked to identify Finch, but she refused, stating to firefighter Giovanni Martello that Finch’s body was "a dead, dead blue thing" and simultaneously claimed that she had never seen it before. Finch was later officially identified at the morgue by his father, Theodore "Ted" Finch, Sr., 43.

Gordon and Margaret Seegan expressed sympathy over what happened to Finch, but were also deeply upset that their home had become a crime scene. They had originally decided to have a lakeside lunch with their young children after they left church, but were forced to abandon those plans when they saw law enforcement surrounding the lake.

"Goddamn kids," Gordon Seegan was heard muttering to Martello and Sheriff Desmond Redding. He explained that in spite of the _NO TRESPASSING_ signs posted around the property, kids still cut across their home and would sometimes throw impromptu parties at the lake on the weekends. Wife Margaret added that she told their children to stay inside the house until everyone had left.

Markey told Redding that she attempted to locate Finch several times herself before exhaustion set in and she was forced to dial 911. Redding, who accompanied the firefighters to the Seegan property, asked Markey how she knew that Finch would be there that morning. Markey replied that she remembered visiting the lake with him the week after Valentine's Day and believed that he chose it in order to replicate a previous near-drowning attempt that occurred the last time they were there.

"He said the lake was bottomless, but we were gonna go ahead and search for [the bottom] anyway," Markey recalled. When she later asked Finch about his family, he abruptly changed the subject by telling her he was gonna search for the bottom for a second time. Markey realized after a while that Finch hadn’t come up for air and she became worried. That time, she searched for him three times with no success, only for him to resurface several minutes later. Markey said that she was shaken by the incident and believed that this was the second time that Finch tried to commit suicide in her presence.

The first time Markey was referring to happened at their infamous first meeting on the clock tower at Bartlett High School back on January 5th. On that day, Markey prevented Finch from jumping off the ledge and was lauded as a hero. Markey, however, had a very different take of that encounter. She admitted that the real reason why she was at the clock tower was not because she was going to talk Finch down, but because she was also planning to jump that day.

"People chose to believe that I saved his life, but it was really the other way around," Markey said. "I would've probably killed myself if he hadn't been there to stop me."

Markey then revealed to Redding that she had not physically seen Finch since his birthday back in March and was not responding to her increasingly frantic texts and phone calls. She had reason to worry, especially since Ted and Linda Finch never officially declared their son as a missing person. It was a choice that bothered Markey and brought criticism from Markey's parents, James and Sheryl.

The elder Markeys were furious over the Finches' indifferent attitude over Finch's welfare and were further appalled by Linda Finch's decision to ask their daughter to look for her son, rather than trying to find him herself.

"If it had been Violet who had gone missing, I'd have done everything I could to bring her home," said Sheryl Markey.

"Goddamn that Linda Finch," James Markey commented angrily. "She should have never burdened Violet with that responsibility."

The Finches' decision not to search for Finch also enraged Robert Embry, who counseled him shortly before his expulsion from Bartlett High on March 10th. After a particularly alarming session the two of them had one day, Embry attempted to contact Linda Finch multiple times to no avail.

"I was concerned that Theodore might have bipolar disorder and wanted to talk to his mother about it," Embry said.

When asked why none of the Finches had thought to look for Finch sooner, older sister Kate, 19, said that he had run away from home multiple times before and assumed that he would come back when he was ready. Finch had given no indication to her or to the rest of their family of any troubles he might have been having.

Former classmate Amanda Monk suspected something was off with Finch's behavior over a month ago when she saw him at a meeting for _Life Is Life_ , a support group for suicidal teenagers. During the meeting, Finch had confessed to the attendees that he tried to swallow a bottle of sleeping pills and was later hospitalized. Monk, who had been meeting with the group for the past two months, later informed Markey that following morning. Monk said that she had done it partly out of concern for both Markey and Finch, and also because she felt remorseful over her past bullying behavior towards the latter.

"I never thought Finch and I had anything in common," said Monk. "I called him a freak and spread the most awful rumors about him so I could feel better about myself, but after that day in group, I felt guilty."

"Violet was a mess after Eleanor died and as much as I hate to admit it, Finch was good for her," said Ryan Cross, Markey's ex-boyfriend. "He brought her out of that zombified funk she'd been in since last year."

Finch's friends Brenda Shank-Kravitz and Charlie Donahue, both of whom have not seen or heard from Finch since his expulsion, were horrified by his suicide.

"Finch never said anything to any of us," Shank-Kravitz remarked sadly. Donahue, who regularly called Finch a "moody old todger", noticed his best friend's odd behavior over the past several days and regretted not talking to him about it sooner.

Finch's family were equally at a loss for words upon hearing the news, though they kept insisting that Finch's suicide was an unfortunate accident.

Linda Finch remembered her son as a sensitive boy and recounted an instance when a cardinal repeatedly rammed itself into the patio door. Finch, then seven, begged her and Ted to let the bird live inside with them. His request was denied and the cardinal later died, which sent Finch into a bout of depression.

Ted Finch expressed frustration that his son did not leave a proper note, and also for upsetting his mother, while stepmother Rosémarie Taylor-Finch was in disbelief over her stepson's death.

The details of Finch's death have been kept hidden from his younger sister and younger stepbrother, both of whom are well under the age of 13, and per his family's request, they were not interviewed.

Funeral arrangements will be handled by Golden Acres Cemetery and church services are scheduled for Sunday, May 3rd, at 9:00 AM.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fic’s title comes from the _American Authors_ song _Deep Water_ , which I listened to repeatedly as I was writing this. 
> 
> The lyrics remind me of Finch, and to a smaller extent, Violet.


End file.
